Murigakure no Sato
by Jin Hikari
Summary: When Naruto escapes the belly of the giant snake in the Forest of Death, he leaves behind 1,000 Kage Bunshin. These are the chronicles of their adventures.


_Alright, today we're kicking off a new plot bunny that I found roaming around in my head. Sorry it's not Things, but I wanted to take a small break, after all. Anyways, this new plot will actually have a NEW plot right from the get-go. I hope you all enjoy it!_

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing!_**

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When experiencing something for the first time, people often tell you to take in all the sensations that come along with it. For instance, when one goes on their first adventure outside their own village, or perhaps even to another village entirely, they can start admiring their surroundings much more than they do in their own habitat. The smell of the air, the differences in climate, and even the demeanor of the culture of the people could be different and fascinating all at the same time. Uzumaki Naruto, for instance, loved to experience new things.

"**GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON'T LIKE BEING DIGESTED!"**

Then again, when the new thing you're experiencing is being eaten alive by a giant snake you tend to not focus on enjoying your surroundings so much as getting out of them as fast as possible.

"_Why the hell am I even screaming! No one's around to hear. Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan are off on their own. Stupid team! Where are you when I actually need you!?"_ the blonde mentally shouted. He had to figure out a way to free himself of this giant creature's gut. Maybe give it a bad enough stomach ache that it puked? Could snakes even puke? Naruto knew that typically the stomach had a way to evacuate volatile contents if need be, like on the few occasions when he'd actually managed to eat too much ramen.

Mmm…ramen.

Wait, ramen! That was it! He just had to fill this thing's gut to the point where he could get out!

"Alright, here it goes. Better make a lot, just to make sure. _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

The following sight was...well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. After all, we need not go into the gory details of exactly how the snake's whole body bloated with the sudden appearance of an even one thousand Naruto clones sprung to life. We should also be thankful that any of the children watching Naruto to see what had happened would be shielded from the disgusting sight of the snake's insides being revealed through the tears in the scaly tissue that had popped up once the stomach had been stretched to the limit. These tears would only get worse, until the snake was literally pulled in half by the sheer force of the clone's distortion of space. Blood, guts, and feces would fly in every which direction, painting the forest as red as the Sharingan. Yes, thank God for the smoke from a shadow clone technique, lest prying eyes be exposed to such distasteful details.

A thoroughly blood-drenched Naruto stood panting, glad to be free. In fact, his newfound freedom was all that was on his mind. Screw his shadow clones; they could dispel themselves later. Right now, his only concern was rushing to his team's aid. So that's just what he did, leaving the army of him behind to figure out what to do with themselves.

"Wait…did Boss just totally ditch us? What are we supposed to do now!?" clone four-hundred and nineteen piped up.

Twenty-seven scratched his chin thoughtfully along with several other clones whose numbers need not be mentioned. "Well, I suppose we could just hang out. I don't think it was in Boss's plan to take us along for the ride. Does anybody have an idea of what we could do until we pop?"

Somehow at this point in time, Naruto had neglected to realize that he would keep the memories of the clones that he had created. That didn't mean the memories weren't there, it simply meant that he chose to ignore them. The clones, however, did no such thing. They all remembered the long waits their predecessors had experienced when given the command to stay in one spot and not move. After all, if the clones could say one bad thing about their creator, it was that he was terribly forgetful.

"Did anyone remember to pack shogi? I bet I could beat all of you at once!" clone three-thirty-three questioned, only to be instantly silenced and dispelled by a bop to the head. It was a little known fact that the clones that had consecutive numbers in their creation allotment were more prone to being a bit whack-o, but it was a trait that really stood out when you could create as many as a certain blonde-haired Jinchuuriki, especially when he wasn't all that stable to begin with.

With their numbers already shaved down to nine hundred and ninety-nine, the rest of the clones simply sat in silence. They didn't want to dispel just yet, as they rather enjoyed existing at the moment. That was the thing about being a shadow clone. You were aware that you were a clone while at the same time thinking yourself to be real. It was easy to dispel when hit, or when told to by your boss, but otherwise there would always be a nagging instinct of self-preservation to keep you around.

One-Thousand had propped himself up against the trunk of a sturdy tree, arms crossed and eyes shut. He rather enjoyed the weather here. It had been a warm and sunny day when Naruto and his team had entered the forest. Now with the sunlight dimmed thanks to the forest's canopy, the warmth could be fully enjoyed. _"Hey Boss, we should camp out here during the summer. The weather's pretty nice today, huh?"_ he thought. One-Thousand knew that Boss would take up all the memories that these clones had when they popped, and he thought that if he threw in something original then there'd be a better chance of him standing out. Typical Naruto, craving attention even if it was from himself.

The next few minutes passed blandly. None of the clones really did anything. They were simply waiting for something to happen, or perhaps for their internal clocks to run out so they could dispel. That was when things took a turn for the worse.

All the remaining Naruto clones clutched their stomachs and coughed up a storm simultaneously. It was almost as if they'd all taken a hit to the gut. Clone one-Thousand, being sensible, unzipped his bright orange jacket and lifted up his black undershirt to look at the afflicted area.

"What the hell is this?" he asked to no one in particular. The Kyuubi's seal was there, just like always, but there seemed to be a new layer to it. Five swirl patterns, to be exact. "I guess…someone must have tagged Boss with something. What's this thing supposed to do, though?"

The pain lingered for a while, and the clones were quickly growing bored with doing nothing. Clone eighty-nine in particular was voicing his irritation. "Oh come on!" he exclaimed, "How much longer is Boss gonna make us wait before we pop!? I'm tired of this! Someone hit me!"

A deft swat to the back of the head sent eighty-nine stumbling forward, rubbing his head tenderly. "That…that hurt? That hurt!" he shouted. All the clones' eyes were open wide with that statement. How could that hurt? Any clone who took enough of a hit to experience pain of any sort should be dispelled instantly. The mere fact that a shadow clone could experience pain was just beyond their comprehension.

And when something was beyond Uzumaki Naruto's comprehension, mass panic ensued.

Clone forty-three was the first to react, and the one to have the strongest response to this information as well. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T DISPEL OURSELVES!? ARE WE STUCK HERE UNTIL BOSS COMES BACK!?" he yelled as he began running around panicked in circles. He himself ran into the trunk of a tree face-first, and screamed out loud as he felt the searing pain of the new gashes across his cheeks and nose. The injuries increased everyone's own sense of terror as they weren't used to seeing a clone of them damaged so much.

One-Thousand seemed to be the only one who was keeping a level head. If they couldn't dispel themselves, they'd have to wait for Boss to get back so he could do it for them. The problem was that Boss was historically forgetful about where he'd leave his clones. Maybe they should send a messenger out, like they did when something happened to a battalion that had been left behind.

The first time they'd tried that it had been two hours on the training grounds since they'd been created. Given the nature of Konoha's environment as well as the setting of the sun, the animals of prey had begun their nightly hunts. Even after nearly half the force of two hundred clones had been dispelled, Boss still hadn't arrived to help out. At the end of the fight, ninety-nine clones had all gathered around one brave volunteer and screamed "GET BACK HERE AND POP US YOU IDIOT!" before piling on top of their brother and popping him. Naruto had arrived a minute later, and the issue had been taken care of.

The problem with that strategy, however, was that the clones this time around seemed to be a lot more durable than those who had come before. "Do we have a volunteer for a message to Boss? Maybe we can get his help if we send a messenger," One-Thousand offered, expressing his own thoughts. The battalion fell silent. They'd seen what had happened to forty-three. He'd taken enough damage to bleed – well, not so much bleed as start to leak out visible chakra into the air until the wounds closed - so exactly how durable were they? Sure, Boss had popped clones on his own before, but that was nothing like actually trying to kill anything that looked exactly like you did. The trauma would be…unbearable. None of them were suicidal, not like that at least.

As if the thought had registered with all of them, no response was given to this question. Clone One-Thousand nodded his head somberly. The only thing they could do now was make a camp and wait. "Okay then, we'll need you guys to start building tents. With around a thousand of us, we'll need to break up into ten groups of one hundred to make enough the most effective tents that balance size with comfort."

The clones nodded as they all set to work. In less than a half hour, a shelter resembling a short and long shack made from Lincoln Logs was made for each group. They avoided a fire, which was alright because with one-hundred clones per lodge body heat is easy to come across. However, none of that was really important now as it was the middle of the day. What the clones really needed to focus on was finding something to occupy their time.

"Hey wait!" clone forty-two suddenly stated. All the other clones looked in his direction, eager to hear what he had to say. "If the exam is still going on, then don't we want to keep ourselves defended for as long as possible? I say we set up a perimeter of traps. Explosive tags, stink bombs, stuff like that is what's gonna keep us alive until Boss gets back."

One-Thousand wasn't sure any of the other clones hadn't caught the fact that forty-two had used the word "alive." They were Kage Bunshin; they weren't alive on principle. The very idea that they could be so sent a chill down his spine. If they were alive, then so were all the clones that had been dispelled before. And if those clones were alive, then had they all actually experienced a death when they'd popped?

No, that was impossible. Boss would have known if one of his clones had actually died, and since Boss would know, then they'd all know. Besides, Boss wouldn't keep making clones he would send off to die just so he could win fights. If so, then he wouldn't be Boss, he'd just be some sick and twisted general in charge of an army as limitless as his chakra supply. One thousand could never call a man like that his Boss.

No, he had to have faith in the man. He'd come back to dispel them all. They were his comrades, after all. Kakashi-sensei had taught them that those who abandoned their comrades were worse than trash, and if letting your comrades do something as horrible as die by the thousand on top of simply forgetting where they were half the time, then Boss would be the biggest piece of trash on the planet.

One-Thousand chuckled. During his introspection another clone had set up a team to start laying traps in a five-hundred meter radius from the center of camp. That alone would take until nightfall, which was good. One-Thousand didn't know if they needed sleep, but it couldn't hurt them to try it out. They were bound to get tired or low on chakra eventually, though the latter might be a more permanent issue. Since they were clones, they lacked the life force to actually power the creation of chakra. They were usually stuck with whatever they'd been given upon creation. After that ran out…well…poof.

That was an interesting idea to try out. Could they pop themselves due to chakra exhaustion? That was a far less morbid option than pummeling a clone until he hit his new and improved breaking point. One-Thousand nodded and set to work dashing up the closest tree. He'd run laps like this until his chakra dissipated, and once that happened he'd pop and carry the memories of the forgotten tribe of clones to Boss. He'd come back and dispel them for sure after that.

Hours passed, and clone One-Thousand had gathered a crowd of onlookers. They were mumbling about just what it was he was doing, asking if he had gone insane or something. One thousand snorted at this. He wasn't insane; he'd show them all just what he was up to once he popped. No matter how drenched in sweat and exhausted he was, he had to keep pushing. He'd hit the popping point sooner or later. He had to, seeing as he was a clone.

The thoroughly sweat-drenched clone smirked to himself as he thought this. Unfortunately, the lapse in concentration cost him dearly. His already flickering chakra seemed to all but shut off, whether this was out of a survival instinct or that he'd actually lost focus he'd never know. As a result of this, his feet no longer stuck to the tree to power the climbing exercise, and he slipped and fell nearly fifty feet before impacting the ground.

That was it. No cloud of smoke signifying the pop of a clone, no shout of pain, just a sweaty body slamming to the earth with its eyes shut and breath heavy. Clone One-Thousand had knocked himself unconscious. The very notion of this instantly set clone forty-three back on his rampage, screaming that they'd somehow lost their ability to pop, or that they might have to die before they did. Several of the other clones shared shocked expressions as they looked back and forth to one another, trying to think of what to do.

"Alright, I've seen enough!" one clone in particular spouted, working his way to the front of the crowd. "It's obvious that we can't pop so easily anymore. The question you're all probably asking yourselves is why we've lost that weakness. Are we alive now? Did Boss accidentally discover some way to make us more stable when he was in that snake's gut? I don't know, nor do I really care. What matters to me now is surviving the night and avoiding a run-in with any other team taking the exams," he said.

"But what about Boss? He probably knows how to dispel us, can't we just wait for him to come back?" asked another clone, the number of which nobody cared to recall.

"Boss is forgetful, and because of that we can't afford to take any chances. We have a perimeter of traps set up already, but we need to set up night watch until we can get a wall built. Complicated construction like that is bound to attract attention though, so we shouldn't build anything until the end of the exams."

"Well, what about the shacks? Those were harder to build than any kind of wall we could think up, and we haven't been attacked yet. I think you're just power-hungry!" one clone piped up. Several others seemed to agree with this, and soon cries of how they could do whatever they wanted and other childish claims echoed throughout the surrounding area. Clone one hundred quickly grew impatient with the mob of overwhelming stupidity he'd run into. It looked like he'd need to show them why construction would have to wait.

"Do you want to know why we can't just start building during the exams? Just look at that guy over there! He's unconscious! Do you know what that means?" Clone One-Hundred began, silencing the uproar that had been started due to his words. He flicked his wrist and a dull grey kunai flew into his palm. He slid the across the back of his opposite hand and flinched with the sharp, stinging sensation that came with it. Blue chakra gushed forth from the wound, but One-Hundred did not pop.

"We can be injured, we can feel pain, and I'm almost certain that means that we're capable of dying, too! We aren't just clones anymore! Whatever happened to Boss out there also affected us! Whatever it is, we're real! We're alive! Are you idiots willing to waste that life to build some stupid fence!?"

The silence continued as chakra flowed rapidly out of Hundred's hand. If there was one thing you grew to respect as a clone, it was a life. Not only because you were deployed simply as a way to save one – at least most of the time that is, certain activities were also enjoyed by some less honorable clone users – in any sort of way, but because of just what Boss had been through.

It was important to view this situation from a clone's perspective before properly coming to a conclusion as to just what in the world was going on. You see, clones were used fairly regularly in higher-level missions that Shinobi take part in. Over the course of these missions clones are almost always released with only one true objective in mind; they would protect the lives of their creators. Whether this was in a direct fashion though battle where a well-placed battalion of clones could serve as invaluable backup, or more subtly by going on a life-risking reconnaissance trip didn't matter, a clone existed for the sole purpose to making their creator's life safer.

So, with that being said it was no wonder that the current batch of Naruto clones were in such disarray. When they weren't actively trying to make Naruto's life easier, they were probably only a few seconds away from being popped. They had no idea how long this newfound permanence of freedom would last, and they wanted to take full advantage of it while they could. In spite of all that, One-Hundred had reminded them of something they'd all forgotten. Life was precious.

They had all the original Naruto's memories, including the sad ones. All the emotions Naruto had regarding death were theirs to partake in. His turmoil at the near-death of Sasuke, his anger at Zabuza for disregarding a life that had been given over to him completely by means of Haku, and his respect for the swordsman when he'd spent his last moments making up for that mistake the best he knew how shaped this reaction. These three memories, powerful no matter how few, were enough to remind them that what they had now was too precious to be wasted.

"So you get it now, right?" One-Hundred asked with a shadow of his previous outburst still in his voice. "If you're all so riled up to get something done, then how about we do something to grip firmly onto these lives that have been given to us? None of us are probably real good with words, but I say the least we can do is come up with names for introductions! Whaddya say?"

There was a collective round of applause and shouts of approval from the crowd. One-Hundred – no, his name would be Hyaku now – smirked at this. Before, they would have all raised their fists into the air and let out one unified cheer. There was already some individuality starting to bloom among this little tribe.

Clone One-Thousand, dubbed Sen, awoke shortly after the names and introductions were given. He was surprised at first that his brothers had called him by any name at all, let alone such a strange one. He was still very much under the impression that they were clones, even after viewing the wounds they were capable of receiving. After all, how could they be anything but clones? They had simply been that to start out with, and no matter how much pain they could feel, they still couldn't bleed blood. None of them had a pulse. Something without a physical body couldn't be alive, could it? Yet somehow, seeing Hyaku standing up and leading the clones with a sound mind and solid voice made him think that maybe, just maybe they could be alive after all. And, since living things got names, he was fine with his. It was a little strange, but it was the one his brothers had given him, and that was more than enough.

So the clones had agreed to set to work after the exams had been finished. The thing was, though, no one knew just when they were over. Boss hadn't been paying attention when the time limit was given, so none of them had been paying attention either.

"We have to wait at least a couple of days!" Hyaku stated firmly, a gathering of six other clones sitting around him as they all formed a circle on the ground. He'd picked the six at random, seeing as there was no organization to this new cluster of individuals yet. They would debate amongst themselves as to just what they should do. They had nine-hundred and ninety-nine "men" on hand, and would need to decide wisely just how to use them. "The goal for now is to build the best possible survival plan and keep going until Boss shows up to fix us, so what should we do until these exams finish?"

Sen had been one of the ones chosen to come to the discussion. Basically everyone had agreed on training, as no matter what they were just like their boss in the way that he was always striving to get better.

"Well what about taijutsu?" clone eighteen, who had elected to give himself the name Randou, asked.

"No way, we have to be really careful. One of us might die during the matches!" Forty-Three, named Abu, said with firm conviction. Sen sighed, rubbing his temples and increasing the intensity of the pressure applied as the yelling between the five clones besides Hyaku and himself steadily got louder and louder.

"_How the hell does he do it? If he's a clone just like the rest of us, then shouldn't he be more than willing to hop into the fray?"_ Sen thought, gazing at Hyaku with vested interest. Hyaku turned to catch the other clone's glance, and immediately smirked and rolled his eyes as if to say "Silly how hard it is to get along, isn't it?" Sen nodded. Couldn't they just find people to get along with?

Wait, that might work.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Sen yelled over the arguing. Things fell silent as Randou, Abu, and the others all looked directly at him.

"Well, if you have an idea that you think is best, I suppose we can be kind enough to allow it," Fourty-two, dubbed Tetsu, stated with a steely tone of intelligence behind his voice.

"Yeah, I do. Why don't you all just go out there and gather up a group to do whatever you want. Abu seems to freaked out to try any sort of training, but Randou is all riled up to get into a fight with anybody he can. You seem like a bookworm, so maybe you can go out and find some useful supplies or something, and this guy has been going on and on about food! Just go grab some guys who'd like to help out and get out of here!"

They all seemed to like that idea, as within minutes there were seven or eight groups off doing things like practicing taijutsu with Randou, combing the forest for edible things like berries, nuts, maybe even small animals like fish, working on their chakra control and ninjutsu under a new clone who'd gone off with his own group, and assorted other activities.

Sen was watching all of this, trying to figure out exactly which group he wanted to join. He'd rather not look for food, as he still had plenty left in his ration pack, but if that group found some big game then who was to say that they had to share? He'd love to get some real meat. Or ramen, but the chances of finding wild ramen were disappointingly low.

Randou seemed to be fighting two other clones at once. How he was pulling that off Sen would never know. They were all supposed to be of equal ability, after all. Maybe he was just a fighting maniac, like how Tetsu had taken a group of other clones on a "survival of the fittest raiding party" earlier. They'd also managed to snag most of the ninja tools from the other clones, and had built a rather spiffy looking storage unit for it all. He'd insisted that organization was key.

The ninjutsu group was appealing, but with such a limited range of things to practice Sen wondered if it would even be worth it. What jutsu did they know, anyways? Henge, Kawarimi, and Kage Bunshin, that's what. Maybe he'd be better off trying to figure out how the cool ninjas did those elemental techniques or something.

"Nice job sorting them out like this back there," Hyaku said from behind Sen. Sen looked back, scratching his neck and looking down.

"Well, it's not like it was really my idea in the first place. I saw that look you gave me, y'know," he replied in a slightly embarrassed tone. "I'm not good with all this leader stuff, that's more you it seems like."

"Nonsense, you did fine. Even if it was my idea, I never told you what to do with it. We're not all that picky about how we spend our resources most of the time, after all."

"Then why divide us up into groups like this? We're not really doing anything productive, it seems like. I get that we'll have to wait until the exams finish up, but…"

"Actually, most of the other teams are already at the tower. The only ones left are the weaker groups that are still hunting around for scrolls. They wouldn't waste time on us anyways," Hyaku cut him off with a wide grin.

Sen was shocked. Would they really stall construction of a defense just so they could spend time doing…whatever it was they chose to do? What was Hyaku getting at with this plan? They were supposed to survive, weren't they? Why not track down Boss and get him to pop them?

Hyaku's laughter cut Sen's thoughts short. "I can tell you're a little stumped. I'll admit, I'm being a bit selfish here. I didn't want to do anything too fancy just yet because I didn't want to die, you see."

Sen actually had to take a step back with that statement. "What do you mean die? Boss is going to come along any time now and pop us, right?"

"That's just it. If we can't dispel ourselves, then why would Boss be able to? I think something happened to him that made us like this. Otherwise we would have popped on our own by now. Whatever's going on, Boss won't be coming back. Not soon, at least. That's why I think that for right now we should embrace this chance we've got and live life to the fullest, y'know?"

Hyaku's words struck a chord with Sen's spirit. This feeling of…could it be called admiration if the person you admired was yourself, or was this just some odd form of narcissism? Well, whatever it was, Sen realized that if anyone had a chance of getting all the clones through this ordeal, it would be Hyaku.

And screw this clone thing. Hyaku was right. They weren't just Kage Bunshin anymore. Whatever that odd black mark that had popped up on what Sen suspected was all of their stomachs it was obviously what had brought them to life.

"So you're trying to get them to express their originality by doing whatever they want, huh?" Sen asked with a smirk. Hyaku nodded, crossing his arms. "What is it that you want to do, then?"

Hyaku paused at this. A question like that wouldn't really stump someone, would it? It was fairly simple, after all. Living things had wants, needs, and other things that made them who they were. Without those, how could you be alive? So surely if Hyaku was alive, he'd have something he wanted.

"I guess you could say…I wanna be the Hokage as much as Boss does, but not for the recognition. I just want to lead for the sake of people. How 'bout you, kid?"

Sen suddenly realized that his questions from before had been stupid. He never realized how hard it was to express what you wanted. He didn't want to make himself seem like a braggart with some huge goal, but at the same time he knew that Hyaku would know if he was just being humble and lying.

"I just…"

Sen looked out over the whole group of clones, training and otherwise causing a ruckus, and couldn't help but smirk to himself.

"I just want to live and be happy with everybody, I suppose."

"Those are some nice words, kid. Nice words, indeed," Hyaku replied. "Think you can back them up? You'll have to get pretty strong if you want to protect that dream of yours."

Sen stood there in thought, watching the sun pass down below the canopy of the forest.

"Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes."

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